Center Fear

On stage fright and how poetry has changed the way people view me...

One limb betrays her,

shaking just slightly

the only sign of her distress.

But the distance between her body, the stagde edge - so sharp

and you...

it yawns before her and

you do not notice how fast her heart pounds.

 

This very human form, not perfect

and so aware

of those imperfections that

her body

crawls with nerves, digging deep into

the habit of breathing. 

 

Expression paralyzed and nails

bitten so they bleed,

details you miss from where you sit,

from where you watch and judge and wait.

 

This

is the Game

The Contest

played every night between wills and

courage, the fear

eats away and is felt

from bones into toes and burrows too close...

 

Logical mind, left and right always warring she

cannot understand

comprehend why

her body rebels against her calm pleading

and the panic attack looms.

 

danger, danger

 

Then she speaks, her

voice perfect

gathering and catching every hue of color,

every rocking emotion -

she has captured you in words, touched

where no one has drifted before

 

and that scares you, because very suddenly,

she does not fit into her spot anymore...

 

 

Author's Note

I'm not sure the title Center Fear really fits, what do you think?
Some things I've had trouble with lately - flow, images and pace.
Can you hear it strongly in your head; where the words are stressed?

Reviews

[WritefromtheHeart]

Center Stage, perhaps? Or Center Stage Fear?

I love this...I have such stage fright and I used to do theater, but it's been so long. You truly captured my feelings when I had to read a short story of mine aloud last fall at a writer's conference!! Are you sure you weren't in the crowd?? ;-) Excellent write!!!!

[Travis Lawrence]

Relatable, as anyone who has read poetry in front of a crowd could attest. We all get nervous, and my right knee shakes sometimes, but you'r right, when the words start flowing it all feels natural, and then you get a positive response from the crowd and it's exhilerating. Great write.

"This very human form, not perfect"
-- I don't like the word very, at all, it adds nothing in my opinion.

"the stagde edge - so sharp"
-- did you mean staged?


Let me see if I can get the stress right, I'll do it for one stanza...

EXPRESSion paralYZED and NAILS
BITten so they BLEED,
DEtails you MISS from WHERE you SIT,
from WHERE you WATCH and JUDGE and WAIT.

Did I get it right? I think the last line had great pacing.

Yet again, well done!

[E. M. Murren]

This is an interesting work... in the best sense of the term. Stage fright is well described... Then taking it to the audience... their vision of her altered by her performance... really well done. Fine work.